Crochet Addict CFS

Tuesday, 27 March 2012

Tuesday's Patterns Week 2

08:00 Tuesday's Patterns 6 comments

Welcome to

Tuesday's Patterns.

I haven't finished the pattern I am writing at the moment

& I haven't finished the pattern that I'm following.

So I thought I would discuss the process of how I design my patterns.

I'm an off the cuff sort of designer.

I have a basic beanie that I use for the start of my patterns.

I choose the animal I'm going to make.

Make the relevant coloured beanie.

I then look at each part of the face

& make it up as I go.

I write down the pattern as I am designing it.

There are pros and cons to this method.

Sometimes I have to frog and start again

but I have found for me this is the most natural method.
What method do you use?

What patterns do you want to share this week:

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Auto-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
For best results, use HTML mode to edit this section of the post.

Review Monday Week 1

08:00 Childrens Book, Review Monday 2 comments

Good Morning Everyone!

Well it's actually sunny here still!

Little Red has spent the weekend playing out in the back garden.

Hubby had to work on Sunday so me and Little Red spent the morning together.
Then when hubby got back we all went with
my father-in-law and his partner to a garden centre.
It was my first real trip out since this crash.
Little Red, Granddad and Daddy
went on a miniature train round the grounds.
Me & Nana pottered round the garden centre.
It was nice to get out but I had to come back for a rest whilst they all went
round to theirs to play on the wii.

It makes such a difference when the weather is nice!

It's fantastic being able to sit in the conservatory

I got some wonderful things for my birthday:

I got some yarn as well :-)
&
I've still got some presents to come.

I would like to review a children's set of books this week:

You can buy these books individually or in box sets.

We have two box sets already for Little Red.

No matter what his mood is he is always cheered up by these books.

The books are based around one family:

Mr & Mrs Boot, Poppy & Sam, the dog Rusty & other characters.

The illustrations are fantastic!

Little Red loves just looking at the pictures.

The other good thing about the illustrations is the fact

that each page has a hidden little duck.

We read the book first and then go back through

trying to find all the ducks.

The stories are fantastic in themselves.

The writing is big and clear.

The story is short but is still interesting.

Little Red loves readying what they all get up to

& each story is completely different.

I also like the fact that the stories

aren't too long!

They are just the right length for a bedtime story.

I love the way Little Red Interacts with these books!

I would highly recommend them.

I haven't received anything in return to the above review.

I have no affiliation with anyone & the views are my own.

I learnt a tough lesson this weekend.

I quoted someone prices for a number of hat patterns

I then read my figures wrong when converting it for payment

This meant they were only paying for the discount rather than the discounted price.

Then the customer didn't have a paypal account

so agreed to a money order.

I have now found out, it take 8 weeks to receive your money

& it costs you £8 - $12.69

None of this is the customers fault it is all my own

but I have learnt a hard lesson.

From now on Paypal payments only for international buyers

& I'll get hubby to check the figures first.

If you have reviews you want to link to please add the button

to your page & link your review below:

Only link reviews!

Giveaway Sunday Wk 1

08:00 Giveaway, Giveaway Sunday, Winnings 1 comment

Well this is the first week of Giveaway Sunday.

I am happy to annouce

the winners of my giveaway are:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to everyone that entered!

I hope all the new people who have joined us

are enjoying the blog.

I've been winning again.

I know I'm just too lucky

This week I have won:

This beautiful scarf:

Giveaway held by: http://oneartmama.blogspot.co.uk

supplied by: http://kadie-sevenalive.blogspot.co.uk/

& 2 ebooks:

Giveaway held by: http://southernlovely.blogspot.co.uk

supplied by: http://kristendukephotography.com/

Here are a few giveaways you might want to enter this week:

Please Do Not Link anything

but giveaways.

In your title please mark if it's

US, US\Can, Int

If you are adding a link

Please add the button to your blog.

Here is the button with then html code:

Guest Blogger Week 9 Lazy Daisy Crochet

07:00 Guest Blogger 4 comments

I would like say a big welcome to Melissa from:

Lazy Daisy Crochet

· Short bio about you:

I am 37 years old.

I am a part time SAHM/part time Substitute Teacher.

I have lived in Arkansas all of my life.

I have two children, 1 boy (6) and 1 girl (12).

I been have married to my wonderful hubby for almost 19 years now.

I started crocheting in 2007 after I lost my mom because of a car accident.

My mom tried to get me to learn to crochet when I was younger

but I was never really interested in it.

All I could do then was chain.

Then after losing her I felt like I needed to do something to ease some of the pain.

I decided since crocheting was something she always wanted me to do I would try it again.

I went to the store and bought one of those I taught myself to crochet kits and the rest is history.

So I have to say thanks mom.

After I started crocheting, one of the first things I started making was prayer shawls.

I have made them for cancer patients and some have been given away or auctioned off for charity.

I love to crochet more for others than I do for myself.

I also enjoy all kinds of crafts.

I do a little bit of cross stitch and knitting on the side as well.

· How did you decide on the name for your blog?

Daisies are my favourite flower and were also my great grandmothers favourite.

My Etsy store is Mel’s Daisy Patch, and I always feel like I am being lazy when I crochet.

· How long have you been blogging and why did you start?

I originally started out as a book review blogger in March of 2010, with a blog called melsdaisypatch.blogspot.com.

I do book reviews for some of the Christian book companies in exchange for free books.

Then in June of 2011, I started my crochet blog lazydaisycrochet.blogspot.com.

I love to crochet and had found a lot of crochet blogs and wanted to start following them,

so I started my own crochet blog to keep up with what I was doing and making.

In September of 2011, I started another blog lazydaisycrossstich.blogspot.com.

I haven’t done a whole lot with it though.

· Where do you get your inspiration from?

Mostly from my kids.

They love for me to make things for them.

They believe that I can crochet anything if I just try,

and because of that I have started making my own patterns.

I always wanted to but never thought I was good enough to do it.

Then I started crocheting some baby goodies for some of my son’s teachers.

My son decided he wanted a snuggle blanket that looked like a puppy.

I couldn’t find a pattern, so that’s when I decided I would try it on my own.

I am very proud of the way it turned out and he loved it.

· What is your favourite thing to do in your spare time?

Crochet of course.

I also love to read, visit other crochet/ knit and craft blogs,

sit and watch movies or fun shows with my kids, and just hang out with my family.

On Mondays I spend the day at my son’s school helping out and eating lunch with him.

· What do you have on your blog at the moment that you would like to talk about?

My newest pattern I came up with.

I had a dream one night about a baby that had the cutest blanket.

It was, what I would call, the crochet version of a taggies blanket.

I woke up the next morning and drew a picture of it.

I have lovingly named it my Wiggles and Giggles Baby Blanket.

The original one that I made was given away as a baby gift.

The sweet mamma loved it so much.

She said she couldn’t wait to have her baby so that he could play with and hold it.

I have some other versions of it in the works.

I can’t wait for everyone to see them.

I have to say a big thanks to my mother in law (whom I call mom) who came up with the idea.

· What made you start to sell your items?

I started selling things in my Etsy store in 2008.

I also have a store on shophandmade.com.

I was a SAHM who wanted to make a little extra money at that time.

I only sold a few things back then and gave up for a while.

Then when I started designing my own cross stitch patterns and crochet patterns,

I decided maybe I should try again.

I’ve sold a few of my cross stitch patterns and hope to start selling some of the crochet ones soon also.

· What is your favourite item in your shop at the moment?

I have two favourites right now.

My Snuggle Puppy Pattern and my Wiggles and Giggles Pattern.

I am so proud of the way they turned out.

I love to get pictures from my testers and others who have done my patterns.

· What would be the one piece of advice would you give to a new blogger or a person setting up their own craft shop:

The advice I would give a new blogger is just put yourself on your blog.

Talk about and show the things you love to do and are doing.

Don’t worry about if anyone is following you or not.

Do it for yourself.

For a person setting up their own craft shop, I would have to say be patient!

It can be tough sometimes.

But if you think you have something that will sell try to sell it.

Only list one of the item at a time, that way if it doesn’t sell you are not out the listing cost

and you can always relist it if it does sell.

Take lots of well lit pictures and have fun with them .

I can be found at all of the following links:

http://lazydaisycrochet.blogspot.com/ (Crochet blog)

http://melsdaisypatch.blogspot.com/ (Book review blog)

http://lazydaisycrossstitch.blogspot.com/(Cross stitch blog)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/melsdaisypatch(My Etsy store)

http://www.ravelry.com/designers/melissa-graham(Ravelry)

http://pinterest.com/daisycrochet/(Pinterest)

@daisycrochet (Twitter)

As of yet I do not use Facebook.

I hope you have all enjoyed learning all about Melissa and Lazy Daisy Crochet

please pop over and see Melissa's other patterns.

Thanks ever so much Melissa!

I've made Friday Week 1 23rd March 2012

10:44 Butterfly, Duck, Felting, FO, I've Made Friday 16 comments

Welcome to the first ever

I've made Friday

There is a linky at the bottom if you want to link

anything you've made.

I am leaving it open so not only can you link

your crochet & knitting items

you can also link

crafty, diy and homemade items.

I've had some fun this week trying out needle felting.

I have really enjoyed it!

It is a craft you can put down and pick up again later.

These are the best crafts for me as I don't have

very good concentration.

I am really pleased with how my butterflies have turned out:

For my first try I don't think it's too bad.

Little Red then wanted to choose his own colours:

They are really fun!

I'm getting a 3-d kit for my birthday and I just can't wait :-)

And I also finished the quackers pattern I was testing

for Melissa at Lazy Daisy Crochet

Go over and take a look at her site.

Her blog is under going some exciting changes!

Melissa has some fantastic designs, well worth a look!

I'm hoping to have a new exciting hat design finished for next week so

don't forget to pop by to see if it's finished!

I have however got a set of books to recommend for children:

We have 4 of the Oscar books and I would highly recommend them.

Previously Little Red hasn't been interested in these books

but now he is growing up it has all changed.

The books explain different things.

The moth book is all about light and dark.

The story is really good and the children don't realize that they are learning at the same time.

At the end of the book are some

questions (including pictures) for the child to join in.

Little Red loves this part of the book as he has to come up with the ideas himself.

Little Red is 5 yrs old but wasn't interested in them before now.

I think younger girls would be interested in them sooner.

I'm afraid I still haven't finished off my latest book so I'll wait to review it till it's finished.

My giveaway ends tomorrow so be sure to enter:

Don't forget to visit all the other finished items:

Don't forget to add a link to anything you've made:

Thursday Homemade Love Week 1 21st March 2012

07:00 Fish, Thursday Homemade Love 9 comments

I have been looking at me and my blog lately.

I've sort of been winging it for a long time.

When I joined WIP Wednesday & FO Friday

they gave me focus.

I was working part-time and they were the days I wasn't working.

I'm currently off sick due to my cfs.

My blog has become me.

I can't go out anywhere & I need to rest but

I also need to keep my mood on an even keel and

that's what this blog does for me.

I want it to be a positive experience as well as informative.

I want to do and find things that are interesting to you

but that I can achieve whilst resting etc.

I now have a rough idea of my week but I have left it flexible

so that if I'm not good I can still interact with you.

I have chosen a few things for each day and depending on how I can then

take the decision of what and how many I post about.

Monday: Monday Reviews - Weekend Review\Reviews of any of Little Reds books we've read the previous week\Product\Blog

Tuesday: Tuesday's Patterns - I either blog about a pattern I've designed\made\tested\bought etc

I also want other people to link it so that we can shout about crochet and the things we make

I also don't mind anyone who knits adding their pattern as well.
Any free pattern I make will also be listed on this day.

Wednesday: What you doing Wednesday - WIP Wednesday + update on book I'm reading

Thursday - Thursday Homemade Love - Crafting done\found\pinterest\etsy finds

This is a very flexible day. it just depends on what I have done for the previous week.

It is to show some love to handmade things.

Whether it's things other people have made.

Homemade things by me

Or things made with Little Red.

Friday - What you've made Friday -FO Friday + book I've finished if I've finished one

Saturday - Guest Blogger I don't currently charge anything for my guest blogger
if you wish to post on the blog just email me.

Sunday - Giveaway Sunday - I am either going to host\supply\or review a current giveaway

I am open to anyone who wants me to host a giveaway (no charge)

all giveaways that are international will be also posted on my other blog:

http://susand1408giveaways.blogspot.co.uk/

The good thing about having an idea of what I'm doing each day is I can do everything in advance.

This means if I'm up to it I can blog in advance and that way I don't have
to worry when I'm at my worst.
It also means I can split the post into 5mins at a time so it doesn't tire me out.

This blog means sooo much to me!

I'm in bed between 8-9pm every night.

I struggle going out and the thought of getting dressed and looking decent just exhausts me.

You have become my friends and I hope you realize how much

you mean to me.

I am coming to understand my condition and I am coming to understand what

I have to do when I have a big crash.

I can't control it but I also need to help it.

When i'm crashing like now I need to rest and live with what is happening.

I also need to keep positive and that's

where you and this blog have helped.

You cheer me up when I'm down, praised me, helped me and you make me feel good about myself!

I want to say a BIG THANK YOU!

Could I ask you all one question. I changed my blog slightly and now have the reply option.
If your email address is attached do you get a copy of my reply?
I want to make sure you get my reply because I try to always reply to all of you!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway:

I also want to let you know I'm going to try and put a linky on each post.

if there is something you want to add to the day

it's there for you to add.

This is your blog as well & I hope if there is anything you want to see you'll

let me know.

Now back to Thursday Homemade Love!

A small, quick fun thing to do with kids.

Swimming Fish: